Torpedo-guard for ships.



J. LOCK.

TORPEDO GUARD FOR SHIPS.v

APPLICATION HLED 05c. 31. Ian.

Patented Nov. 19,1918.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1- 1; LOCK.

mmno sumo FOR SHIPS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 31, I917- Patented Nov. 19, 1918.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ms nouns vzrss cu. warn-um. wuumcmm n.

J. LOCK.

' TORPEDO GUARD FOR SHIPS.

APPLICATION FILED DEc.3l, 1911.

1,285,261. Patented Nov. 19, 1918.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

' J GHO'LM'HS J. LOCK. TORPEDO GUARD FOR SHIPS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 31. 19]].

1 ,285,261. Patented Nov. 19, 1918.

4 SHEETSSHE ET 4.

jn'ucnfon I I Shrunk-1 5 srarns PATENT orrion JOHN LOCK, OF'ALAMEDA,CALIFORNIA.

TORPEDO-GUARD FOR SHIPS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 0V. 19, 1918.

Application filed December 3 1 r3 17. Serial No. 209,696.

tion. 4

This invention relates to torpedo guards for ships hulls and, has as its{object .to provide a guardso constructed thatthe same may be quicklyadjusted to position to prevent the hull of the ship being struck by anapproaching torpedo, and which guard, when not in use, may be sopositioned beside the hull of the ship as to in no way interfere withsteering f the ship.

It is one aim of the invention to provide in a device of this classincluding guards extending; substantially the entire length of the hullf the ship at each side thereof, means whereby the guards may be readilyadjusted to a raised orlowered position or adjusted in a fore or aftdirection so that n matter from whatdirection the torpedo is firedeither or both of the guards may be quickly broughtinto position toprotect that portion of the hull of the ship which is most likely to bedamaged by the torpedo.

Another aim of the invention is to so construct the device that whilethe guard members or plates are sufficiently stout to cause explosion ofthe torpedo upon striking the same, the said guard members maynevertheless be adjusted and moved into and out of active posit-ionreadily and with the expenditure of but. little power.

The invention also aims to so construct the device that even though theguard members be lowered into the water in g iarding position, the shipmay still be maneuvered without difficulty if traveling at a relativelylow rate of speed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the guard device embodying the presentinvention mounted upon the hull, of a ship, the device being illustratedwith the parts in inactive position;

Fig, 2 is a-detail end e evation. of one of the guard 'inembers and thesupporting booms, the guard member and its supportlng booms being shownin full lines in such position that, the lower edge of the guard memberwill be located above the surface of the water and in dotted lines thepositions of these parts when the guard member is lowered into activeposition;

Fig.3 is a top plan view of the device applied to a ships hull;

Fig. 4 'is a view in elevation looking at the inner side of one of theunits of one of the guard members;

Fig. 5 is a group perspective view illustrating the means provided forconnecting the corners of the guard units with the outer ends of thesupporting booms therefor;

Fig. 6 is a similar view illustrating the means provided for connectingthe inner ends of the supporting booms to the slnps hull Fig. 7 is aperspective view illustrating a boom rest constituting a part of thedevice.

In the drawings the numeral 1 indicates in general the hull of a shipand the numerals 2 and 3 indicate, respectively, fore and aftmasts whichserve a purpose to be presently explained.

One of the guards is located at. each side of the hull of the ship andeach guard coniprises a series of units each in the nature of a guardplate 4 01 a suitable metal and sufficiently thick and heavy tocauseexplo sion of a torpedo striking the same. Each of the plates 4 ispreferably rectangular in marginal outline, and the outer surface ofeach plate is preferably smooth. However, each plate is reinforced bymeans of longi tudinally extending substantially semi-circular channelbars which are disposed at their concave sides against the inner face ofthe plate and are secured at suitable intervals by means of rivets orthe like, indi cated by the numeral 6. As stated these bars 5 are ofchannel formation and they are left open at their ends so that water maydrain therefrom and thus prevent cornumber of units couipi. "ing theplutes l are disposed end to end and are supported in this relation atthe outer ends oi booms which connect d at their ini L to ship's hull.hiach of the booivs cove l t 1.- i a tubular of a the said booins are onone another and suited and parallel throughout their V into the outerind of euchbooinji is fitted the shanl: S of a hinge inculhaving anaperturcd ear 10, the ears there her 9 of the members 9 which are fittedinto the outer ends of the upper booms being turned in a downwarddirection, as clearly shown booms also in 5, and those upon the lowerturned in an upWur-d direction, as shown in c said figure. in prov aconnection between the members 1 lLLQ corners of the un ts there areemployed su'ii'ei members ll each comprising to the inner face of eachunit at euch upper and lower corner thereof is u stun l; terminating atits outer lug 18 end in connecting or A end in a pii the swivel innu'ith the id iur'rfs the plates 12 members *e disposed with theirregistering with the openings nd pivot bolts 19 are fitted v to pivotallconnect the some. fhus not only is pivotal connection provider betweenthe outer ends of the upper end lower booms and the upper end lowercorners, respectively, of adjacent units of the guard members, but alsothe inectii'ig ends of the adjacent units are connected with each otherso that in efifect each guard arlords guard surface extendingsubstantially continuousl; the entire length of the hull of the siip. Itwill also be apparent at this point that the booms 7 may be swung dl vor downwardly, or forwardly or .ardy due to the substantially unipirotulconnection between their outer ends and the corners of the plates i, andat similar universal connection provided be tween the inner ends of thebooms 7 and the ships hull as will now be described. inasmuch as theconnections between the inner ends oi all or the booms i" and the shiphull are of like constructioin it will bers suffice to specificallydescribe one of seid connections. The connection comprises a plate 20which is riveted or otherwise secured to the side of the hull and uponthe outer face of which plate there is formed a pintle lug having anopening formed vertically therein, the upper -face of the lug 21 beingflat and smooth. The numeral 23 indicates a. head provided at its basewith a circular beuring portion 2- the under side of which is fiat andsmoothly finished to rest and turn upon the upper face of the respectivepintle lug 21 and formed centrally upon the under side 0i the basefle isit do pending shank 725 which rotatably fits with in the opening At itslower end the shank is formed With a transverse slot 326 which, in theassembled relation of the parts, is located immediately below the underside of the lug 21. and a key 27 is provided and is fitted into the slot26 so as to prevent accidental upward displacement oi the shun: in theopening 22. The head is formed or provided with an car 28 i121? ing anopening 29 and the inner end of the respective boom 7 is flattened orotherwise formed. to provide a pintle ear 30 Which is disposed to 1%against the ear a pivot bolt 31 being fitted through the. openings andan opening formed in the car 30. it will now be understood that due tothe connection provided between the inner ends of the booms i and theships hull, these booms may have unii'ers-al movement with relation tothe hull. in other WOIClS they may be swung upwardly or downwardly. ormay be swung forwardly or rearwardl and also in the various intermediatedirections, and this fact together with the fact that :1 similaruniversal joint is provided between the outer ends of the 13001115 andthe units comprising the guard members, pro rides for adjustment of thesaid guard mem her in any desired. direction so that the members may beswung upwardly to inactive position beside the hull of the ship, may belowered into the Water in active position to guard the hull of the shipfrom torpedoes, may be swung bodily forwardly to particulurljv ufiordprotection for the bow of the hull, and may be swung rearwurdly so as toparticularly afiord protection for the stern of the hull.

By reference to Fig. 3 oi the drawings i t will be obser ed that theforemost ones of the booms are curved along such. lines as will adoptthese particular booins to lie against the hull at the bow of the ship.

As before stated the guard members may be adjusted to position lyingagainst the hull of the ship when not in use and in order that the boomsmay be supported While the guard members are in this position, therehomeowneris provided, for each boom, asupporting bracket of the formshown in Fig. 7, and indicated in general by the numeral 33. Thisbracket- 33 comprises an attaching plate portion 3a riveted or otherwisesecured tot-he hull of the ship, each bracket being located in ahorizontal line with the inner end of the boom which it is to supportand being spaceda suitable distance rearwardly from the pivoted innerend of the said boom, as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Thesupporting member of each bracket is indicated by the numeral 35 and isupwardly and outwardly curved so as to provide a rest designed toreceive the boom which the bracket is to support, this supportingportion being preferably reinforced by means of a bracing web 36.

Each of the pivot bolts 16 serves also as the connection for a shackle37 and connected to each two adjacent shackles 3'7 throughout the lengthof the guard member are the ends of a cable 38 which cables constitutebridles serving as a connection between the units of the guard membersand an arrangement of raising and lowering cables. Each of the bridlecables 38 is passed slidably through a link 39 and connected to theselinks are cables a0 which lead to the shackle 41 of a pulley block l2.Passed about the pulley of said block is a hoisting cable 43 connectedto a similar block 44 upon the mast 2 or the mast 3, as the case may be,it being observed by reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings that theforward units of each guard have their respective cables l0 connected tothe block a2 at the forward mast 2 and that the rear units of each guardhave their said cables connected to the block 4i at the mast Thehoisting cables 43 are led to and about steam winches 45 whereby thecables may be quickly taken up or paid out in respectively raising andlowering the guard members. It will be observed by reference to Fig. lof the drawings that the guard member illustrated therein is in inactiveposition. or, in other words, in position beside the hull of the ship,the booms 7 being supported within the brackets 33. With the parts inthis position, when it is desired to lower the guard members into activeposition, or in other words. to posi tion extending a suitable distancebelow the surface of the water, the winches as are operated to take up ashort length of the cables 43 so as to elevate the outer ends of thebooms clear of the supporting brackets 33, whereupon the cables 43 maybe paid out so as to permit the guard members to lower to the activeposition stated. In order that the guard members may be adjusted foreand aft as they are raised and lowered, fore and aft haul cables 46 and4", respectively,

are connected to the foremost and rearmost shackles 37 and are ledrespectively for- \vardly and rearwardly and connected to cleats 4S andl9 located respectively at the bow and stern of the ship. Thus by payingout the cables 47 and hauling in on the cables so. the booms may beswung forwardly so as to correspondingly move the guard members and thusmore especially I protect the bow of the ship, or the cables 46 may bepaid out and the cables l7 hauled in so as to swing the booms rearwardlyand correspondingly adjust the guard members to especially rotect thestern of the hull.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A protective device of the class described comprising members forattachment to a ships hull, booms having universal connections with saidmembers, a guard member supported by the said booms, means for adjustingthe parts to vary the position of the guard member, and brackets on thehull having seats extending longitudinally of the hull to be engaged byand retain the booms in inactive position close to the hull.

2. A protective device of the class described comprising a guard memberconsisting of a plurality of units arranged end to end, swivel platesdisposed between the ends of adjacent units and having their oppositeends pivotally attached to the ends of the respectively adjacent units,booms connected pivotally at their outer ends with the swivel plates,and means for pivotally connecting the inner ends of the booms with aships hull.

3. A protective device of the class described comprising supportingplates to be secured to a ships hull and provided with pintle lugs,heads having depending shanks pivotally engaging said pintlc lugs andprovided with outwardly and upwardly extending portions, booms havingtheir inner ends pivotally attached to said outwardly and upwardlyextending portions, swivel plates pivoted to the outer ends of thebooms, and guard units having their ends pivoted to the opposite ends ofthe swivel plates.

4. A protective device or" the class described comprising a plurality ofunits disposed end to end, means for supporting the said units from thehull of a ship for movement in vertical and horizontal planes, bridlecables having their ends connected to the ends of the several units,raising and lowering cables supporting and having movable engagementwith the bridle cables, and means upon the ship for operating the saidraising and lowering cables.

A protective device of the class described comprising brackets to besecured to the hull of a ship, heads mounted in said brackets forpivotal movementin horizontal planes booms pivoted at their inner endsto the upper ends of said heads for movement in vertical planes, swivelplates provided intermediate their ends with lugs pivotally attached tothe outer ends of the booms, guard units (lispoeed end to end andprovided at their ends with pintle lugs arranged to overlap the ends ofthe swivel plates, and means for pivotally attaching 10 the said pintlelugs to the ends of the swivel plates.

In testimony whereof I alhx my signature.

JGHN DOCK. 11.5.

*5 each, by addressing the Commissioner of lateBt-e',

tor it.

